Super light smartphones soon to be a reality

While smartphones these days are getting a lot lighter as it is, it’s about to shed even more weight. Introducing, Aerogels; It’s ultra-porous materials that is made up of silica gel or even aluminum oxide and may weigh just 15% more than air. As it consists of so many microscopic air pockets, Aerogels are incredibly effective insulators.

Using a special manufacturing process, new types of aerogel-type materials are slowly becoming part of mobile phones and tablets, which means that components that are normally heavy like batteries are about to lose a lot of weight. Researcher have a way of developing aerogel-type materials with a 3D printing process called microstereolithography. This results in a cotton candy-like substance from a structural point of view, but it is super stiff and strong and able to carry a load that is 160,000 times heavier than the material itself.

The prospect of mobile phones weighing slightly more than air would effectively end the weight-loss war that manufacturers engage with one another.